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Updated: May 28, 2026
Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Gynecologic Cancer
Published on: April 17, 2012
(Stereotactic) radiosurgery XIX: spinal radiosurgery--two year experience in a UK centre
A G R Martin1, I R Cowley, B A Taylor
1The CyberKnife Centre, The Harley Street Clinic, London, UK.
Introduction:
Modern radiotherapy image guidance enables the treatment of extracranial targets with the required accuracy for safe delivery of radiosurgical treatments. The first two years' experience of spinal radiosurgery in a UK radiotherapy centre is reported.
Materials And Methods:
Patients with primary or metastatic spinal lesions were treated using the CyberKnife stereotactic radiotherapy system. Xsight Spine (fiducial-free) tumour tracking software was used in all cases. Treatment was delivered using either a single or a three-fraction schedule, between February 2009 and March 2011.
Results:
Fifty-three spinal lesions were treated, comprising 14 primary lesions in 12 patients, and 39 metastases in 29 patients. The prescription dose ranged from 8 to 30 Gy in 1-3 fractions. Fifty-nine percent of patients experienced no acute side effects from treatment. There were three cases of acute grade 3 back or nerve root pain, all of which responded to a short course of oral corticosteroids. At a median follow-up of 11.1 months, local control and overall survival were 91 and 65%, respectively. Pain improvement was seen in 75% of symptomatic metastases at 6 months post treatment.
Conclusions:
Early UK experience confirms that radiosurgery is well tolerated with excellent local control rates. Longer-term prospective data are needed to clarify the role of spinal radiosurgery for patients in this country.
